Chapter 02

After what felt like an eternity driving across the city in a yellow cab, we reached uncle Joe's restaurant. Honestly, I probably could have made it on foot faster than it took the driver to get us there, but by this point, I was resigned to sitting through traffic - that still didn't mean I enjoyed it. When we climbed out of the cab, I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me full force and I couldn't help but smile.

Even before I'd lived here, I had worked part time to pay for meals. It hadn't been necessary, but I didn't want charity. Uncle Joe had still gotten the upper hand in our negotiations, and proceeded to tutor me in the core education subjects - English, math, history, and science. As we drew nearer, I frowned as I noticed the sign on the window was flipped to Sorry, we're closed.

"Mom?" I said, curiosity creeping into my voice.

Uncle Joe almost never closed up, especially this early in the day. I thought we were here for lunch. Mom just smiled at my confusion, however, saying nothing as she opened the door.

"Surprise!"

I blinked, the world turning black and white as I looked around at everyone. Uncle Joe was front and center, holding his arms out for a hug. Ari, the wind nymph, was flying circles up near the ceiling in her ethereal form - no doubt helping circulate the cool air. Andromeda and Annabeth were there too, as well as Andromeda's brother Andros and their mom. There were also balloons and a big hand-made banner that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My hair must have started cycling colors because Andromeda's mom gasped while Andromeda and Annabeth snickered.

"Nipote, it's good to see you," uncle Joe said as I ran up and hugged him hard.

Okay so full disclosure; Uncle Joe isn't really my uncle, that was just a cover story for why I was staying around and helping out in his restaurant. Well, okay, I guess technically he is my Uncle, but we didn't know that at the time. Like my mom, he's a child of Aphrodite - which basically makes them siblings. Mom and Uncle Joe had even hit it off really well - especially when she found out how much he'd done to help me over the years - though she admitted it was a little strange to think of someone older than her own father as a brother figure. I was just glad they were able to get along - not that I ever had any doubts.

"This is great," I said, pulling back. "When did you guys put this together?"

"While you were moving your things out," uncle Joe winked. "Sal and I got to talking and we agreed it would be a nice surprise."

"Sal, huh?" I grinned, turning to look at mom.

"That's still 'mom' to you, Missy," Mom chimed in.

"Well, you definitely got me," I grinned, giving uncle Joe another quick hug before rushing over to greet my friends while Percy headed over to sit with Andromeda's brother.

"What are you guys doing he...eep!?" I was interrupted mid-question as Andromeda pulled me into a crushing hug of her own. Despite the imaginary cracking sound coming from my ribs, it felt... Nice.

"It's your birthday," Andromeda said, letting go and taking a step back. "You okay? You look a little..."

I blinked, shaking my head in an effort to mentally reboot before quickly nodding, "Fine, yes. Good. Fine. Yeah."

"So," Annabeth said, drawing my attention and gesturing to a picture hanging on a nearby wall. It was me, looking half dead from exhaustion after my first hardcore training session with Hunter. Uncle Joe had laid in wait to ambush me when we got back, and snapped a candid picture. "Kitchen Witch, huh?"

I blushed. "It's kind of like an Employee of the Month spot but with a silly nickname title instead. It's also completely meaningless since Uncle Joe says he wont put his picture up there because he's the owner, and Ari's a wind nymph, which means she doesn't photograph very well."

"I don't think you photograph too well, either," Andromeda said, laughing as I grumbled under my breath.

"So how are things back at the camp?" I asked Annabeth. Was I changing the subject? Yes.

"Things are... tense," Annabeth said with a sigh. "With Luke gone, cabin Eleven is kind of drifting rudderless. Of course, there are all kinds of rumors flying around. Nobody seems to actually know what's really going on for sure, but everyone is certain something happened. Most people know there was some kind of confrontation between the two of you, and a few people even think you killed him and buried his body somewhere out in the woods."

"WHAT?!" Our family stopped talking and turned to see what the commotion was about, but I waved them off with a forced grin.

"It's just a stupid rumor," Annabeth huffed. "And nobody important believes it, anyway."

"Which means plenty of people believe it," I said.

"It'll be fine," Annabeth assured me. "It's mostly just the kids in cabin five starting rumors because of what you did to their dad. Chiron knows the truth and, even if you did kill him, Mr. D would probably just give you the extra paperwork as a punishment just so he didn't have to write it up. Besides, you're not going back to the camp until Summer, right? I'm sure the gossip and rumors will die down well before even the next Solstice."

"Yeah," I said. "Still, it would be nice to know that something is actually being done about you know who getting stronger. What about you and your brother, 'Meda?"

"Meda?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow.

"Trying out a nickname," I mumbled. "No good?"

"It's... Not not good," she said slowly. "As for me and my brother, what about us?"

"How's camp been treating you guys?"

"We're not year-rounders like Annabeth is," she said. "But... I'm not sure if we should go back next year, regardless."

"What?" I blinked. "Why not?"

"Our dad is... you know," she said, lowering her voice and looking around as if the Lord of the Dead himself might suddenly appear out of the shadows. "He's not exactly welcome... anywhere. And his children aren't really trusted either."

"That's total bullshit, though," I said. "Who cares who your dad is? You're awesome, and that didn't suddenly change because a glowing symbol appeared over your head. If anything, it makes him slightly more awesome by proxy."

Andromeda spared me a slight smile, but neither she or Annabeth had anything else to say on the topic and we lapsed into silence. The celebratory mood of a birthday party seemed far away despite the decorations. As if sensing the shift in mood (or, more likely, having eavesdropped on our entire conversation) a rush of cool air blew passed, whipping our hair around.

"So, now that th' guests o' honor've arrived," Ari said loudly, breezing into a solid form next to my brother - causing him to almost fall out of his chair in shock. "How abou' we get the presents outta th' way before we bring out th' food?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," mom said, grinning as Andros helped Percy back up. "What do you two think?"

"Presents!" Percy and I said, speaking simultaneously.

We shared a grin and then broke out into a brief fit of laughter. You always hear about 'twin speak' where close siblings will say the same thing at the same time. Despite us not having grown up together, we'd certainly grown closer over the last month or so.

"Alright, alright," Mom said, grinning. "Come on over here and take a seat."

I unwrapped my presents with all the grace and dignity of a house cat that had her first sniff of catnip. That is to say that bits of shredded wrapping paper no larger than a dime could be found in a near perfect circle on the floor and table surrounding me - a few stray scraps even finding their way into my hair. Percy, on the other hand, ripped into his presents by removing large strips of paper at a time.

My first gift, from Grover, was a CD from the band t.A.T.u. I remembered him mentioning something about this band back in D.O.A. - the entrance to the Underworld in Los Angeles. The cover art was, I was guessing, the two members of the band sitting on a motorcycle and facing the camera. They looked... comfortable together. i'd have to give it a listen later. Conveniently, my next present was a portable CD player from Andromeda, Andros and their mom. Uncle Joe had gotten me a full set of new clothes for school - from Saks off 5th if the bags were any indication - and mom had gotten me a set of the Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD.

Grover had sent a basketball for Percy, who had also gotten a portable CD player from the Johnston family and a full set of school clothes (also from Saks off 5th) from Uncle Joe. Mom had gotten him a set of DVDs as well, James Cameron's Titanic was at the top of the pile.

After the presents came the cake. It resembled a large chocolate brick with brilliant blue icing the same consistency of wet concrete. I loved it! Percy and I took turns cutting off a corner piece for ourselves before mom took over cutting for everyone else. Despite appearances, the cake was very light and moist (though the frosting was very thick).

So," Andromeda said, poking at one of the Saks off 5th bags. "Where did you say you were going to school this year?"

"Some private school Upstate," I said, with a shrug. I was actually really nervous about attending a real school for the first time, but I didn't want to show it. "Blackgate or something."

"It's Blackstone," Percy corrected.

"Pretty sure Blackgate is a Batman thing," Andros chimed in.

"Nerd," I said, grinning at his affronted look.

"Oh, that's good," Andromeda said, steering the conversation back around.

"Honestly, though... Uncle Joe would have probably bought those even if I was going to a P.S. in Brooklyn."

"Well, then you'd have to be careful. In a private school, it's kind of expected that you dress nicely. Some places, though, you'd likely end up as a target for bullies because you stood out."

"Is that so?" Uncle Joe asked, a hint of mischief glinting in his eyes that Andromeda either missed or ignored.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"So where are you going to school?" I asked.

"Upstate," Andromeda replied simply.

"They're going to Blackstone also," Andromeda's mom said.

"Really?" I perked up. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I actually knew someone there.

"Well, then," uncle Joe said. "Maybe I should get your measurements so you can fit in as well as nipote, here."

"No, no!" Andromeda quickly declined. "I'm good. Really. I prefer hand-me-downs, and some of them even have designer labels. So, really... I'm good."

"Sure, they do," Andros said. "But do you really want to be caught wearing last season's style?"

"Maybe you can let him take your measurements instead?" Andromeda glared. "I seem to remember that going really well the last time."

"Thankfully I have both sets of measurements still memorized," Andromeda's mom said, grinning at uncle Joe.

"Mom!" The siblings cried out in unison.

Annabeth was the first to laugh, followed by everyone else, quickly breaking the tension between the two siblings. I heard the bell over the door ring as someone walked inside.

"Sorry, we're clo..." uncle Joe's voice trailed off.

I turned to look, and my jaw dropped. Standing in the doorway was a woman made entirely of solid gold. For a moment, nobody moved. In fact, the entire room had fallen so still that, for a brief moment, I thought Kronos had paused time again. Then, the golden woman turned to face me.

"Ah, you must be young Penelope," she said, her strangely accented voice sounded not unlike a mechanical recording.

Instantly Andromeda, Annabeth, and Andros sprung to their feet, drawing concealed weapons and moving to stand between me and the flashy auton. Where had those come from? I felt a brief flash of envy realizing my mom would probably never let me out of the house with my sword. Percy Joined them, pulling an ink pen from his jeans pocket. At first I was confused, until he uncapped it and was suddenly holding a bronze sword. What the hell? Where did he get that? Still, if the golden woman was intimidated, she didn't show it.

"Children, please," uncle Joe said, calmly but firmly. "Put your weapons away. There will be no violence to be had in my business."

The four armed teenagers glanced at each other before reluctantly complying.

"Now, Miss..." he paused. "You have us at a disadvantage, I'm afraid. Who are you, and what is your business?"

"Oh, right. Introductions... Well, my name's Kate," she said. "I'm one of Hephaestus' forge attendants. He sent me down here to collect her."

Everyone turned to look at me. Oh, right! I had totally forgotten that he had told me to meet him on my birthday when we spoke in the throne room.

"Oh, yeah," I chuckled, awkwardly. "It kinda slipped my mind."

"Well, we were just about to have lunch when you walked in," mom said, speaking up. "Why don't you stay for that at least? We can talk while the kids enjoy themselves."

"That sounds lovely," Kate replied. "Not sure if I can actually eat in this body, but the big guy didn't tell me specifically not to."

"You're going to see your dad?" Percy asked after mom led Kate over to a table at the other side of the room.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "He might have mentioned something about it when we returned the bolt. I kind of forgot all about it, to be honest."

"How do you forget something like that?"

"I've kind of had other things on my mind," I said.

"But, it's Olympus," my brother persisted. "How often do you get to go there?"

"Once or twice a week," I shrugged. "I usually detour there on my morning runs."

"What the hell?" Surprisingly, it was Andromeda's brother that spoke up. "How do you even get up there?"

"I have an elevator card," I said. "I just make sure the elevator's empty first then slide the card in and out, and up I go."

"How do you still have that?" Andromeda all but demanded. "Those are supposed to be one-time use only, and highly restricted by the guard."

"Well, I haven't been stopped and neither of the twins have asked for it back," I shrugged.

"Twins?" Percy asked.

"Alexiares and Anicetus, the sons of Heracles," I explained. "They guard the gates of Olympus while their dad is off working on his tan on some island in the Mediterranean."

"That's not normal," Annabeth said.

"Nah," I shook my head. "From what I hear, he's actually pretty vain. All that fame and spotless P.R. has gone straight to his head."

"Not that," Annabeth said. "Typically, we - that is Demigods - are only really allowed up to Olympus for the Solstice meetings, and even then it's mainly the Winter meeting. Going up on a whim for a day trip is just... It's not done."

"What do you even do up there?" Percy asked.

"I mostly wander around the marketplace," I grinned. "There's always some new stall or shop to look at. Though, when I'm on my morning run, there's this one little diner just off the main road that I stop in for coffee and a bite. Oh! Their nectar smoothies even use fresh fruit and real nectar. Maybe I can take you guys there, sometime."

"How about today?" Kate said from behind me.

"Really?" Percy and I asked in unison.

"Yup," Kate said, popping the 'p'. "All of you can come. Just cleared it with the grown ups."

"Uncle Joe?" I asked. In hindsight, I probably should have looked to my mom instead, but I was still getting used to the idea of her being alive. "um... Mom?"

"It's fine," she said. Thankfully, she looked more amused than upset.

"Go," uncle Joe smiled. "Your father wants to see you. That's a very big deal. But I want to hear all about it when you get back."

"You got it!" I beamed.